Ouagadougou: The new RTS, S malaria vaccine will be launched on February 5, 2024 and will concern 218,000 children aged 5 months in 27 health districts of the country, the ministry said Thursday in Ziniaré. of Health and Public Hygiene.
According to the Director of Prevention through Vaccinations, Dr Estelle Ouédraogo, only children aged 5 months are eligible for this vaccine, which offers a reduction of at least 30% in the number of episodes of malaria and significant protection against serious forms of the disease.
She clarified that this introduction is not national and only concerns 27 health districts out of the 70 in Burkina Faso, depending on the incidence of malaria.
Dr Ouédraogo spoke on Thursday, in Ziniaré, at the end of the information and training meeting for women and men from the media, on the introduction of the new vaccine against malaria.
‘We need the press to help us make people in the 27 districts concerned understand by bringing 5-month-old children to receive their vaccine,’ she said
.
The director of prevention through vaccinations also added that a second phase is planned to include the other 33 remaining districts.
Dr Dramane Sawadogo explained that vaccine production is limited, which forces Burkina Faso to receive 878,000 doses instead of the million initially planned.
Dr Ines Evelyne Da, from the NGO JHPIEGO, reassured the effectiveness of the vaccine based on studies carried out in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana.
The permanent secretary for the fight against malaria, Dr Christian Bernard Sidzabda Kompaoré, for his part stressed that this is not a strategy that cancels other strategies.
‘It is all of these strategies that will enable us to deal with this disease which is taking the lives of nearly 4,000 children in Burkina Faso,’ he said.
In his opinion, the vaccine has been tested in other countries but also in Burkina Faso. ‘There is no need to worry and the vaccine has been approved by the WHO,’ he reassured.
‘We are considering ensuring that all children who should benefit from
this vaccine can have 3 doses before the high transmission season, to better protect them and protect them,’ noted Dr. Kompaoré. He specified that a 4th booster dose will be given in 15 months.
Malaria remains a public health problem, ranking first among the reasons for consultation and hospitalization in health facilities, despite enormous efforts recorded in its prevention.
Source: Burkina Information Agency